Time to shutter aging Indian Point

Mar. 22, 2011

Written by

Eliot Engel

Entergy is applying to have its two nuclear reactors at Indian Point relicensed for another 20 years. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, despite these facilities being almost 40 years old and with spotty track records for safety, seems ready to grant the licenses.

But age and safety are not the biggest strikes against Indian Point. The biggest problem is with its location, in Westchester and across the river from Rockland, only 27 miles from New York City. It is impossible to have a realistic evacuation plan in the middle of the densest population area in the United States.

Another issue is that it is located on the Ramapo seismic fault and close to another newly discovered fault line. Indian Point has a long and accelerating history of things going wrong, including numerous leaks of water containing radioactive tritium and even traces of strontium 90. They had to build a new siren system since the old one was unreliable. New York state has preliminarily denied Entergy a water quality certification because of its use of Hudson River water and the slaughter of marine life that it causes.

Just as frightening, one of the 9/11 jets commandeered by the terrorists flew over the plant on its way to the World Trade Center and blueprints for nuclear facilities in the U.S. had been found in Taliban areas of Afghanistan.

For years I have been calling for Indian Point to be shut. I was the first member of Congress to do so. It would never be approved in this location were it to be built today, this close to America's major population and financial center.

Risks, alternatives

Indian Point says it is built to withstand a 6.1 Richter Scale earthquake, higher than the record for this area of 5.25. But Japan's scientists were confident that there would be no earthquake registering a 9 on the Richter Scale or a tsunami so devastating. Sadly, they were wrong.

While Indian Point claims to supply 20 percent of the area's electrical needs, evidence indicates its share is dropping radically with some estimates putting it as low as 4 percent. Stony Point Supervisor William Sherwood said in a March 15 Journal News Community View that a site in his town can be easily used for an efficient gas turbine plant and transmission lines for the power grid pass through the site. Zoning is in place and at least two major gas transmission lines are readily accessible from the site.

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With enough support it could be ready by 2015 when Indian Point's license expires. As a backstop the NRC could relicense Indian Point for five years instead of 20. This is one idea we can consider. I am sure there are others.

An NRC report says that among U.S. nuclear plants, Indian Point's reactor No. 3 has the highest risk of core damage from an earthquake. The chance of quake-induced core damage there is estimated at 1 in 10,000 every year, right on the verge of requiring "immediate concern regarding adequate protection" of the public.

To stress the consequences of a failure at Indian Point, consider this: there are 25 million people living within a 50-mile radius of it, and 50 miles is the distance the NRC recommended Americans distance themselves from the failing Japanese nuclear plant.

Further, Indian Point is located in the middle of a reservoir system that sends water to 9 million people.

And further, for the people in Westchester and Rockland counties and beyond, the evacuation plan is a triumph of wishful thinking. There is no way the enormous number of people around Indian Point can be safely evacuated.

The incident in Japan highlights the issues surrounding any nuclear power plant that has "aged out," is beyond safe repair, and presents health and safety risks in a densely populated area.

Columbia University says Indian Point is at "clearly one of the least favorable sites in our area from an earthquake hazard and risk perspective."

I am not opposed to nuclear power, but for the reasons cited I am against nuclear power at Indian Point. An accident or attack could disrupt New York City's financial center with disastrous nationwide economic consequences on top of an incalculable loss of life and property.

The NRC's obligation is to the health and safety of people, and not to the nuclear industry. Indian Point cannot remain on line. It is too much of a risk and too many lives are at stake.